UK actress Andrea Riseborough (Birdman) appears to be in final negotiations to join the cast of fact-based tennis comedy Battle of the Sexes. The film, to be directed by the Little Miss Sunshine team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, already has Steve Carell (The Big Short) and Emma Stone (Irrational Man) attached.
Revolving around the epic competition in 1973 between tennis legends Billie Jean King (Stone) and Bobbie Riggs (Carell), the Fox Searchlight film comes with a screenplay written by Oscar winner Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire) as well as Danny Boyle (Steve Jobs) on board as one of the movie’s producers. Riseborough is being courted for the role of Marilyn Barnett, King’s hairdresser and former lover. Barnett later outed the tennis pro in 1981. If the deal comes to fruition, Battle of the Sexes will provide reunion as both Riseborough and Stone appeared in the Oscar-winning 2014 dark comedy Birdman.
Battle of the Sexes is one of three movies in various stages of development centering around the feud between King and Riggs. Love & Mercy co-stars Elizabeth Banks and Paul Giamatti will play the duo in the upcoming HBO movie Proof while Will Ferrell is attached to play Riggs in a competing film entitled Match Maker– Steve Conrad (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty) is writing the screenplay.
Riseborough recently appeared in an eclectic roster of films including the science fiction film Oblivion starring Tom Cruise, the Madonna-directed bio W.E. as well as Birdman.
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